Thread: DOE to OK $6.5B for Georgia nuke plant

AP sources: DOE to OK $6.5B for Georgia nuke plant

By MATTHEW DALY 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Energy Department is poised to approve $6.5 billion in federal loan guarantees for the first nuclear power plants built from scratch in this country in more than three decades.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz was expected to announce final approval of the deal at a speech on Wednesday, a day before he visits the $14 billion Vogtle nuclear plant now under construction in eastern Georgia.

Three government officials familiar with the deal confirmed its details Tuesday. They asked not to be identified because the deal has not been made public.

Atlanta-based Southern Co. is building the plant with several partners about 30 miles southeast of Augusta, Ga. The project is widely considered a major test of whether the industry can build nuclear plants without the endemic delays and cost overruns that plagued earlier rounds of building in the 1970s.

Vogtle was originally estimated to cost around $14 billion, but government monitors have warned the final cost is likely to be higher.

The Energy Department tentatively approved an $8.3 billion loan guarantee for the project in 2010 as part of President Barack Obama's pledge to expand nuclear power and other energy sources.

Obama and other proponents say greater use of nuclear power could cut the nation's reliance on fossil fuels and create energy without producing greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
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FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2013 file photo, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz testifies on Capitol Hill in …

More than two dozen nuclear reactors have been proposed in recent years, but experts now say it is likely that only five or six new reactors will be completed by the end of the decade. The once-expected nuclear power boom has been plagued by a series of problems, from the prolonged economic downturn to a sharp drop in natural gas prices and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

Owners of at least four nuclear reactors have shuttered plants in recent months or announced plans to do so, including California's troubled San Onofre nuclear plant. Utilities have decided it is cheaper to close plants rather than spend big money fixing them and risk the uncertainty of safety reviews.

Southern Co. officials told Wall Street analysts in late January that they had submitted the paperwork necessary to get the loan guarantees, but company spokesman Tim Leljedal would not discuss Tuesday whether a deal had been reached.

"We're committed to enhancing the customer value of the project through various avenues including the pursuit of loan guarantees," he said.

The company has said federal assistance was not needed to finish the project.

The company was able to borrow $4.3 billion privately in 2012. Completion of the project is not expected until at least 2018.

Georgia Public Service Commissioner Stan Wise said state officials have been invited to a signing ceremony Thursday. He had not been briefed on the terms.

A spokesman for the Energy Department declined to comment.

Government officials familiar with the deal said two loan guarantees totaling $6.5 billion will be offered to Georgia Power, a Southern subsidiary, and Oglethorpe Power Co., a partner on the project. A separate agreement guaranteeing $1.8 billion was still being negotiated with a third Vogtle partner, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia.

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-sources-doe...214259296.html

2 New Nuclear Plants Win Federal Approval

Feb. 9, 2012
By ALYSSA NEWCOMB
Digital Reporter


Jeff Fusco/Getty Images

The construction of two new nuclear reactors won federal approval today, making them the first to be built in the U.S. in the decades since the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979.

The U.S. Nuclear and Regulatory Commission gave the go-ahead to Southern Company of Atlanta to add two reactors to its existing pair at the Vogtle Plant in Waynesboro, Ga.

Unit 3 is projected to begin operating in 2016 and Unit 4 in 2017.

Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, heralded the move as a "major step" at a news conference.

"The two new units at Vogtle will set a new standard of safety and efficiency in nuclear energy," he said, adding that the company's budget and goals are on schedule.

Only one member of the five-person U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Chairman Gregory Jaczko, dissented, citing safety concerns following a triple meltdown last year at the FukushimaDaiichi plant in Japan.

"Significant safety enhancements have already been recommended as a result of learning the lessons from Fukushima, and there is still more work ahead of us," Jackzki said in a statement. "Knowing this, I cannot support issuing these licenses as if Fukushima never happened."

Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the NRC, told ABCNews.com that Southern Company will have to meet a very specific list of safety criteria and standards set forth for the operation of new nuclear reactors in a post-Three Mile Island era.

"The license that we will be issuing includes both permission to build the reactor and conditional permission to operate the reactor, and only if the acceptance criteria is met," Burnell said.

During the review process, Burnell said, the community was given "several opportunities" to voice its opinions about the environmental impact of the project.

The two new units represent a $14 billion capital investment in Georgia, according to a release issued by the Southern Company.

Peter Bradford, who was a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the time of the Three Mile Island crisis, said building the new reactors wasn't a reasonable economic decision.

"The problem has never been construction permits," Bradford told ABCNews.com. "Investors just don't want to take the risk."

There are currently 104 nuclear reactors in the U.S.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/constructio...ry?id=15549775